Grace Schuke, a teacher from the Philippines, attended our conference and continued her Developmental Play journey with our online Academy. It inspired her to introduce more types of play into her school, community, and family with amazing results.
I had been teaching in a preschool for a year when I saw an event on Facebook about the 1st International Developmental Play Conference. I was so interested that I joined the Conference. I learned a lot and I got inspired to use more types of play in my teaching.
I also got motivated to play more with Jasmine, my five-year-old daughter. After the conference, I bought a huge basin for her and brought sand from the beach for her sensory play at home. It is amazing to see her play with sand for hours. I've seen how she could create pizza, castles and mountains using the sand. I also provided her with additional materials for free drawing and art. She loves to draw and would often draw our family in snow-which is her dream vacation. Also, every afternoon, Jasmine and her friends meet at the garden to play pretend play.
In May, I have initiated and volunteered to facilitate a Parenting seminar for 20 parents and guardians in our community. I encouraged parents to lessen their kids' screentime and replace it with more playtime instead.
After two weeks, I led a Kids' Fun Day in our neighborhood. I let 20 kids play with sand in our pink basin, which they found fun and interesting. Kids also did relays and movement games. There was also storytelling in English and Filipino. Also, some kids enjoyed playing with manipulatives and coloring worksheets.
In August, during our neighborhood's fiesta celebration, I led the "Palarong Pinoy"- Filipino traditional games. Sixty kids of ages 3-12 participated in this event. Kids and parents were delighted to play Filipino games for the first time. Kids had a chance to learn and play Tumbang-Preso, Luksong-tinik, Chinese garter, Ten-twenty and Piko. We also had storytelling in both English and Filipino languages. Some kids even asked me how often will there be activities like this. In the same month, our parish, St.Michael Parish in Taguig also had a Back-to-School event, wherein I helped our parish volunteer in facilitating the activities. Here, 200 kids participated and had a chance to play group games.
In my developmental play journey, I have learned the importance of establishing a good emotional connection with the children under our care for them to trust us. This way, the kids will gain improved self-esteem, which will enable them to learn better.
It is indeed a wonderful journey!
We thank Grace for her comments, and for the joyous photographs, which we use with permission.
If you would like to contribute your own story, please contact caroline.createcatt@gmail.com
